An increasing number of hybrid cars and electric automobiles are recently developed and launched in the market as a solution of environmental problems. Any on-vehicle batteries mounted on these vehicles are used over an extended period of time as compared to other electric appliances. These vehicles, when they are no longer of use, are disassembled, and the batteries mounted therein are retrieved. The batteries mounted on forklifts and large electronic appliances are similarly retrieved.
Some of these re-collected batteries are reusable, while the others are not. To determine the reusability of any retrieved batteries, it was technically developed to collect information of batteries when vehicles are discarded. Patent Document 1 discloses a technical means for storing information of a battery in an RFID tag beforehand, wherein information of an operation history record including operation management data during charging is stored in a noncontact readable/writable RFID tag and read from the tag when the vehicle is discarded, and the read information is used as criteria on deciding whether the battery is recyclable.
Patent Document 2 discloses a maintenance and management method wherein a remaining life of a secondary battery is estimated and used in maintenance and management of the secondary battery. According to the maintenance and management method, data of the secondary battery, such as temperature, voltage, impedance, and charge/discharge current, are detected and transferred to a server by a communication tool, so that a serviceman of a manufacturer of the battery performs maintenance of the secondary battery based on the transferred data.